Product Details

• Actors: Aamir Khan, Gracy Singh, Rachel Shelley, Paul Blackthorne, Suhasini Mulay
• Format: Color, DTS Surround Sound, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 2
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• VHS Release Date: June 25, 2002
• Run Time: 225 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (204 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00005U15N
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #164,859 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Would you believe the most enchanting musical of the year is an almost four-hour-long epic about a ragtag group of 19th-century Indian farmers who form a cricket team to take on an arrogant British captain? The old-fashioned Hollywood musical is alive and well in India's Bollywood industry, where the joyful explosion of music and dance and innocent romance abounds in sweeping epics. In this infectious tale of bloodless revolution, the underdog outcasts and oddballs of a fractured village pull together into a unified team to take on the oppressive colonial Brits at their own game. Think The Longest Yard meets The Seven Samurai by way of Rudyard Kipling, with cricket bats, choreographed dance numbers, romantic triangles, and a rousing call to solidarity. There are no surprises, but what spirit, what color, what good fun! --Sean Axmaker

From The New Yorker

This Indian film-a period musical drama about a group of drought-stricken villagers who play a cricket match against the British authorities to avoid taxation (lagaan)-is pure Bollywood. The director Ashutosh Gowariker crosses a lavish romantic epic with a muscular adventure tale and comes up with an outrageously buoyant hybrid. The musical sequences burst from the story organically, and the outdoor production numbers are composed of brilliantly edited tracking shots and spectacular choreography. Not all the performances soar (the British actors seem particularly stiff), but the romantic leads are wonderful. Aamir Khan's masterly preening is worthy of a young Tony Curtis and his ladylove, played by Gracy Singh, does a Janet Leigh turn at getting her man. The daunting four-hour length leaves plenty of room for meandering subplots and misunderstandings, but the film is so visually alive and superbly structured-it also breaks for an intermission-that you will be happily taken in by its bighearted charms. In Hindi and English. -Bruce Diones
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

132 of 137 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Entrancing Introduction to India, June 14, 2002

By 

Robin Currier - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Lagaan - Once Upon a Time in India (DVD)

I know nothing about the Indian culture or music, and I was a bit skeptical that a 4-hour subtitled movie filmed in India about CRICKET would be of interest to me. I loved every minute. Not only was this movie visually beautiful and well paced, it also has a "good heart." Although a classic tale of courageous common folk rising up against oppressors, the story is told with humor and affection and with an infectious joy and innocence that is very appealing. One example of the director's skill is that even though most of the film is concerned with cricket, a sport about which I know absolutely nothing, the movie never lags or slows down, but keeps an active pace.

The singing and dancing were very enjoyable. Even though I had never been exposed to Hindi singing before, my "Western" ears still found the music very beautiful.

I can see why the actor who played Bhuvan is a big star in India--very charismatic and charming, as well as very good looking.

I will definitely watch this again and again. We made an "Indian Evening" out of it, getting recipes off the Internet for Indian food, and munched on Tandoori chicken and vegetable curry while watching the DVD at home. Great fun!

72 of 79 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Season of Flowers will Also Come, April 28, 2002

By 

Rebecca Johnson "The Rebecca Review" (Washington State) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lagaan: Once upon a Time in India [VHS] (VHS Tape)

As the parched earth waits for the rain, the village girl Gauri (Gracie Singh) waits for the young village farmer Bhuvan (Aamir Khan) to discover her heart. Together they fight for freedom from tyranny as Gauri encourages Bhuvan in his quest to take on the most important challenge of his life.

This is a story of triumph over oppression. A story of how the human spirit rises to new heights to overcome injustice. The plot is uncomplicated, which leaves room for fascinating choreography, discussions of cultural issues and moments of pure abandon. The dance sequences tell stories only dance can tell. It brings together the thoughts and feelings of the characters and creates a sacred space where the characters enter the realm of spirit.

Set in the 1890s, the residents of a small farming village in rustic Gujarat, India are waiting for the monsoon when they discover they will now have to pay twice the amount of lagaan (agricultural tax) they normally have to pay. With just enough food to survive they are literally going to have to fight to survive.

Captain Russel (Paul Blackthorne) almost overplays his part as the colonial officer (of the cantonment which rules over the neighboring villages) to emphasize the absolute absurdity of the situation. He demands complete obedience with no regard to the human suffering his laws will produce. He challenges Bhuvan to a game, knowing he has never played Cricket. If the village loses, they must pay triple the tax (lagaan). Bhuvan must not only gain the support of the terrified villagers, he must rally a team and train them within a few months.

It is completely unfair and the officer's sister, Elizabeth (Rachel Shelley), takes pity on the farmers. Against her brother's will, she starts teaching the villagers how to play the game of Cricket. In the process she falls in love with Bhuvan. It is a shallow love at best. While she is beautiful, Gauri is completely captivating in her complete innocence. Gauri's jealousy over Bhuvan's attentions towards Elizabeth is spectacularly portrayed in dance.

The sweeping cinematography creates a magical ambiance and seems to invoke a certain unity of purpose. The delicious wide shots are sumptuously filmed, completely captivating your entire being. This movie will hold your complete attention, even through the Cricket scenes. One you fall in love with Gauri and Bhuvan, you rally to their cause and the sheer tension of the moments during the Cricket games keeps you completely entranced.

The love story is exotic, the choreography like you have never seen, the songs are intoxicatingly beautiful with poetic lyrics. I've never imagined anyone could combine so many elements into one movie. Sports and a musical? It is amazing how Ashutosh Gowariker knows how to appeal to the human heart in such a way as to combine a musical, political drama, universal emotions, poetry, community culture, romance, dance, artistic cinematography, patriotism and the brute strength of valor.

A movie that emerges slowly and works its way into your heart. First peeking out of the ground and then bursting into full bloom in moments of sheer beauty that will take your breath away right up to the exciting climax.

Story Telling at its Finest!

~The Rebecca Review

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My 1st Bollywood Film was Worth the 4 Hours!, October 9, 2002

By 

T. Halkin "Tim" (Munich, Germany) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lagaan - Once Upon a Time in India (DVD)

Despite the fact that I bought the DVD some time ago, it took me a couple of months and 2 tries to actually get into it enough to watch. Knowing that it's approx. 4 hours long, the first time I popped it in and started struggling through the subtitles, that baby was out of the recorder about 2 minutes later! Well, it took being held up in bed sick to finally motivate me to try again.

Lagaan is an enchanting film that works on several levels: as an exciting sports film, as a poignant triangular love story and as a social and political drama. I like all of the above-mentioned genres with the major exception of sports films. However, I found myself thoroughly caught up in the big game, which actually adds at least one hour to the film's length. It is through this game that so many of the wonderful characters that are introduced throughout the film get their moment to shine: the fortune-teller, the crippled low-cast outcast, the village "idiot", the reformed Judas, etc.

I also appreciated the film's attempt to be fair: it would have been very easy to make the Brits all look like "bloody colonial twats", and the Indians smell like roses. We get to see Brits who where appalled by the way that their fellow countrymen behaved towards the Indians, and Indians discriminating amongst themselves due to their cast system. These areas of grey add layers to what might have been a fairly one-dimensional, Indian version of Mighty Ducks! That said, the very clear lines between good and bad help one cheer the underdogs on and ultimately make this a warm and fuzzy, feel-good-movie.

The cast, lead by Aamir Khan - a wonderful mixture between Tom Hanks and Elvis Presley (!) - is wonderfully diverse, and the films length allows us to get to know each and every one of them. It is my understanding that Khan is somewhat of a superstar in India, which probably means he'll never have the desire to breakout and start an international career. I guess we'll just have to keep watching him in Bollywood films - if his other films are as charming as this one, however, than I certainly don't mind.